Andrew Balding and Mick Channon, who are better known for their exploits on the Flat, were both among the winning trainers here on Wednesday, but still the summer felt a very long way away. On a bitter afternoon, racing was possible thanks only to the frost covers laid down several days ago, and National Hunt's most familiar names were also in evidence getting runs into horses in case the weather closes in completely.

Ruby Walsh's afternoon consisted of a single ride, but it was a significant one as Fago, a recent arrival at Paul Nicholls's yard after finishing second in a Grade One in France, took the card's novice chase and will be steered towards the Arkle Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Unlike most runners from the Nicholls operation, Fago was blowing hard after his three-and-a-half length defeat of Ohio Gold and is expected to show plenty of improvement from his first start over British fences.

"This was a great starting point," Dan Skelton, Nicholls's assistant trainer, said. "He's done all his schooling inside, we'd have loved to take him outside and jumped ditches and everything else, but the weather has meant there was no opportunity to do so.

"We've not had him as long as we'd want, and when they come off the lorry from France, it's a longer trip than any horse ever does in the UK. They come off looking very fragile, you have to build them up and it's a long-term thing.

"The things that you hope will bring improvement are a bit longer with us, a bit more jumping and better ground. We'll look at a step up in grade and opposition next time and an obvious race would be the Kingmaker at Warwick, though that's not set in stone."

Success at Cheltenham would make Fago the first five-year-old to take the Arkle since the abolition of the 7lb weight concession the age-group enjoyed until 2008, though only a handful have made the attempt. Bookmakers generally offer him at 16-1 for the Festival, in a market dominated by the 5-6 chance Simonsig, from the Nicky Henderson yard.

Alan King was another trainer who made the most of the chance to get in ahead of the expected cold weather as Seventh Sign, a winner three times on the Flat in Ireland last summer, took the juvenile hurdle on his debut over timber.

"He was a rig [a horse with a testicle lodged inside his body], and we had him operated on in December and it's been the making of him," King said. "I just thought that with this weather coming, we'd better get him out soon rather than later.

"He's a big, lazy, laid-back horse and he'll be a lot sharper for the experience, and his jumping will be sharper as well as he's only been able to school once on grass."

Balding sent his entire National Hunt string to Newbury in the form of Chiberta King, a winner in Listed company on the Flat, and the seven-year-old ran away with the novice hurdle.

"I think it might be a year too soon for him to go to Cheltenham personally," Balding said. "He's got plenty of experience on the Flat, but it's a different thing with 20 runners around there."

Loch Ba, who took the card's handicap chase, was the latest winner for Mick Channon since teaming up with the Gold-Cup winning trainer Henrietta Knight, who has relinquished her own licence, for the winter campaign.

"It's all down to Hen, the way he jumps," Channon said. "He hasn't put a foot wrong this year. He could be a [Grand]National horse one day."

On a day when there were plenty of Cheltenham clues on show, Vieux Lion Rouge was impressive in the National Hunt Flat race and will be aimed at the Festival Bumper while easy hunter chase winner Chapoturgeon will attempt to go one better than in the 2012 Foxhunter.

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